Originally published here.

We’re excited to share that, going forward, executive coaching will be a core component of our investment model.

Simply said, that means in each term sheet going forward, we will strongly encourage all newly-backed founders to work with an executive coach from our curated network. We’re thrilled to share this initiative as we take yet another step towards providing founders value beyond just capital.

“We view our relationship with founders as a true partnership, where we invest not only in their businesses but also in their personal and professional growth,” says Filip Dames, founding partner. “By providing a coaching budget as a part of our agreement, we strengthen the bond between Cherry Ventures and our portfolio companies.”

The program, titled Copilot, comprises three core components: 1) it’s strongly encouraged, 2) it’s fully financially supported, and 3) it’s a time-based commitment.

Beginning this month, all new founders who we team up with will be offered coaching. Founders will have the option to choose from a curated network of more than a dozen coaches who have worked with the Cherry team and portfolio as their dedicated coach. The costs will be covered as aligned in the term sheet, ensuring that founders do not have to sacrifice quality for affordability. Lastly, all founders will be required to partake in these sessions for at least 12 months, ensuring a foundational underpinning for their long-term leadership development. Sessions are, make no mistake, 100% confidential.

“We all have unconscious patterns, behaviors, and blindspots that influence how we operate every day, personally and professionally. Coaching is about raising self-awareness, self-mastery, and self-responsibility. These are three requirements of leadership at work and in your life,” says Ariane de Bonvoisin, an elite coach who has worked with top global executives and is part of the Cherry coach network.

Commenting further on the neutral power of coaching, she adds, “I hope that coaching in business becomes as normal as coaching in sports, music, acting, and many other industries where high performers excel and keep raising the standards of their own success while enjoying what they do best.”

“Coaching is a place to speak out your most bullish aspirations and work through those challenges, especially related to people, that entrepreneurs get constantly thrown,” says Henrietta Moon, cofounder and CEO of Carbo Culture, a Cherry portfolio company since 2021. “Coaching helped me unlock new ways of leadership and helped me see where my strengths lie and what patterns in action I tend towards. It’s how I keep getting closer to my ‘flow’ and full potential.”

“Coaching had a huge impact on my personal and professional growth journey at Moss,” says Ante Spittler, cofounder and CEO of portfolio company Moss. “The time to zoom out, reflect, and think ahead into the future helped to stay on top of the game — in a business that grew and developed through ups and downs at an incredible pace. It also helped to anticipate and ultimately prevent potential challenges with Moss’s biggest asset, our team.”

The new program signals additional momentum for the Cherry brand and portfolio. Last year, Cherry won Europe’s most competitive seed rounds, primarily occupying B2B software. Dealroom ranked the firm’s seed portfolio among the top in Europe for a 4x higher-than-market seed-to-Series A graduation rate at 75%. Cherry proudly invests not just capital, but our time, energy, and know-how into our founders across our 30+ person team. Cherry has three European offices, Berlin, London, and Stockholm.